i am learning the pathways of the heart
by champion lyra
Summary: He knew Yusaku, better than most people, yes, but did that mean that he'd be able to successfully pick out a gift for him? —DataStormShipping, RyokenYusaku. For Vrains Week!


**Notes**

Wow, I managed to pry myself away from Three Houses to post this, I'm amazed lmao.

It feels like it's been a long time since I've written DataStorm, but it really hasn't been haha. Anyways, since July has been such a busy month, this is unfortunately the only thing I managed to complete for Vrains Week on Tumblr, but hey, better than nothing! I started this back when the prompts were first announced, wrote about 600 words, and then wrote the rest in one straight shot earlier this week lmao.

Anyways, I hope y'all enjoy. This is my first of two (!) DataStorm oneshots coming today, so... see you later, I guess? Haha.

Written for day 13: Birthday!

* * *

"What did you get Yusaku for his birthday?"

Ryoken blinked at the question, still not used to Miyu addressing him directly after all this time. Once he processed it, however, his brain seemed to short circuit. "Excuse me?"

Laughing to herself, Miyu took a sip of her lemonade before responding. "You know, your boyfriend's birthday? In three days? September 1st?" The look of confusion must've been enough for her to discern that he had no idea what she was talking about, and she gasped. "You mean you _didn't know?_"

Somehow, he felt that he had committed some sort of cardinal sin. "...No?" Which was the truth - Yusaku had never told him his birthday, and Ryoken had never cared to ask. The date in which one was born was never of any matter to Ryoken, and Yusaku seemed much the same.

Apparently, he was wrong.

"I can't believe you didn't know!" Miyu bolted up from the plastic chair she had been sitting at, dramatically flinging her finger at Ryoken as the chair behind her teetered off balance. "I know you're rich, but can you even get him something he'd like on this short notice?"

Miffed as he was at that accusation, Ryoken refused to show it. "I don't see why I have to get him anything-"

"Of _course_ you have to get him a gift!" He nearly winced at how loud she was getting, but the people of Den City paid them no mind. "How long have you two been a thing? Come on, Ryoken."

"I'll manage something, I'm sure," he said, mostly to placate her from getting any louder. Truthfully, he wasn't sure he should bother, but he found her words grating on him, somewhat. The idea of disappointing Yusaku by not acknowledging his birthday was out of the question, but he couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't supposed to know about the date in the first place.

Though, Ryoken reasoned with himself, Yusaku was the kind of person who struggled with talking about himself. Even if it did matter to him, he likely wouldn't have ever mentioned it, even to Ryoken. It may have been months and months after they'd gotten together, at this point, but he was still learning new things about Yusaku to this day. It was a good feeling, but one that also left him feeling a bit guilty whenever something like this _did _come up.

"Are you sure you don't need help? Takeru and I are going shopping together tomorrow, if you wanted to come."

As soon as she said the word _shopping_, an almost panic began to set in. He had never bought anyone a birthday gift before - not his father, not even Spectre or the other Knights. It had never seemed important, and he realized that he had absolutely zero experience in that department, while Miyu and Takeru likely had been doing it for their entire lives.

He knew Yusaku, better than most people, yes, but did that mean that he'd be able to successfully pick out a gift for him? A second wave of panic struck when he came to the conclusion that he wasn't entirely sure.

Groaning aloud at his realization, Ryoken buried his face into his arms on the plastic table; missing Miyu's victory smirk in its entirety. "Fine," he ground out, "but I'm only looking. _Not _buying."

Until he knew for certain that Yusaku actually _wanted _a gift, anyways.

* * *

By the time they had actually made it to Den City's shopping district, Ryoken was wondering why on Earth he had agreed to go with Miyu in the first place. Had he totally missed when she mentioned Homura, or had she gotten into his head so thoroughly that he ignored it and agreed to go anyway? Ryoken wasn't sure, but he regretted it either way.

Despite everything they had been through - despite working together not once, but _twice_, and now even dating his best friend, Homura hated Ryoken with a passion.

To be fair, he had an odd relationship with _most _of the Lost Incident victims; barring Yusaku and Spectre. He and Miyu certainly weren't conventional friends, but she didn't despise him the way Homura continued to; and he and Jin still didn't really speak. Certainly, that was in part because Jin didn't even _remember _the Lost Incident, but he remembered remembering it. That would've normally been enough to get two people to speak, and indeed, he and Miyu were certainly very close, but that was about as far as Jin's relationships went, from Ryoken's understanding.

Either way, their trip thus far had been mostly Miyu filling in the bouts of silence while Homura glared daggers at Ryoken, who was trying to ignore the younger boy to the best of his ability. He wasn't sure _why _Homura still hated him so much - he was dating Yusaku, after all, and had been for the past eight months. There was no conceivable reason they shouldn't at least be able to be in the same room together, honestly.

Regardless of the awkward experience thus far, Ryoken was still no closer to having any idea what to get Yusaku for his birthday yet.

"Where do you want to go first?" Miyu asked the two boys, planting her hands firmly on her hips. "We've got a couple of hours before the shops start to close, so we can hit a lot of different stores if you guys want."

Glancing around the bustling center, Ryoken quickly realized that he was unsure of what shops were actually stationed there. Most of his shopping was done online; that which was done in person was almost exclusively done by Spectre. Thinking about it more, he wasn't sure he had ever even _been _there. Or been shopping in general, for things other than supplies and food.

"Kiku's birthday is coming up too," Homura said, turning directly to Miyu, "so let's head to that stationary shop. She likes stuff like that, I think."

"You think?" Miyu snorted in response, but nodded anyways. "But yeah, sure. That okay with you, Ryoken?"

The look Homura sent him told him that even if it _wasn't_, he should keep that to himself for the time being. "Of course."

The walk over there was fairly uneventful, Ryoken mostly just walking a few steps behind the two in front of him. They chattered on about this and that while he looked around at the various shops they passed on the way, attempting to see if anything stood out to him for Yusaku. He'd been trying hard since Miyu had even mentioned it yesterday to no avail.

What did Yusaku even do for fun, Ryoken wondered to himself. He knew his boyfriend enjoyed, generally, wherever he suggested to go for dates, but he knew that was mostly because they were there _together_. Fancy food wasn't really a passion of his, and neither was star gazing - just things that he liked because Ryoken was there. Computers were obviously something Yusaku _had _been passionate about, but ever since his time as Playmaker had come to an end, he mostly only did coding for money and not at all for fun.

Duel Monsters was obviously something that could go either way. It was something, that as Playmaker, he had used to survive and save - thus turning it into something a little less scary than what the Lost Incident had turned the card game into - but it wasn't something that Ryoken believed he'd ever go out of his way to play. It had been a slow change, but Yusaku had mentioned dueling Homura and the younger Zaizen for fun a few times, but Ryoken wondered if that was enough to warrant a Duel Monsters oriented birthday gift.

He scowled as they finally arrived at the stationary shop. Why was this so _difficult_?

* * *

As Homura asked Miyu for her opinion on literally everything he picked up, Ryoken looked around aimlessly, doubting that he'd find anything worthy of his time in a store like this. Writing was a nearly lost art, at this point; primarily done by hobbyists and hipsters. He'd honestly never worked with paper in his life, and looking at it, he understood why. It seemed like such a hassle, keeping everything together or going through book after book after book; pen after pen after pen.

Kiku, whoever it was that Homura was shopping for, apparently still kept a physical diary, complete with cute stickers and colored pens. Ryoken wasn't really paying attention to much of what Homura told Miyu, but he did catch a few things - that apparently, it was a popular hobby among girls back in his hometown, for instance.

While they looked around to find the perfect stickers for the new notebook Homura had finally picked out, Ryoken tried to imagine Yusaku keeping a diary, or even just using a pen and paper. It seemed like a simplistic thing, which was something he might like, but he was always such a technical person. A talented hacker, someone who could understand code in the blink of an eye at times. Imagining someone like that, and someone who already hated talking about himself, keeping an old school paper and pen diary was nearly impossible.

Sighing to himself, he watched as Miyu and Homura went up to the register, glaring a bit at the colored notebooks on the shelves around him. Once again, he regretted even bothering to come here.

* * *

Though he wasn't exactly the most physically fit person he knew, Ryoken had always thought that he kept himself in good shape. He didn't work out religiously, but he stuck to a good routine and ate properly, mostly thanks to Spectre.

However, after walking around in the shopping district for two hours straight, his feet were starting to ache a bit. Not to mention the fact that he was still no closer to finding anything that he deemed appropriate for Yusaku's birthday.

The shopping trip, as it turned out, had mostly been for two things - one, Kiku's birthday, which had been accomplished early on, and two, Miyu had wanted to buy gifts for Aoi and Jin, for whatever reason. She claimed it was just because, but Ryoken found that strange; the idea of getting someone a gift just because you felt like it. In the back of his mind, he wondered if that was normal, and if he were once again the odd one out.

"No luck still, huh?" Miyu asked him as Homura grabbed himself a soda from the vending machine, putting her bags on the ground for a moment to check her phone. "He is kind of a tough person to shop for, if you ask me."

He considered asking her what she bought him, but that would feel a bit too much like admitting defeat. "I told you I was only coming out here to look, did I not?"

Almost instantly, she gave him a look that told him that she'd never believed that in the first place. "Right, right," she agreed anyway, laughing a little bit as she did so. "Honestly, Aoi was having a pretty hard time trying to figure it out, too," she continued, still clicking away at her phone. "She ended up getting him a new hoodie, which I thought was cute."

Ryoken rolled his eyes. He'd considered clothes initially, but found that it was too impersonal. Besides, back when they first officially started dating, he'd given Yusaku a coat or two for the winter, since he didn't seem to have a decent one. Since he'd already done it before, doing something similar felt like a cop out.

Miyu stayed quiet after that, likely to let Ryoken ponder some more about what he could possibly find that Yusaku might like. She was an observant girl, despite the way she held herself and spoke most of the time.

Out of the corner of his eyes, near where Homura was still trying to decide on a snack to go with his soda, Ryoken spotted a store he hadn't seen yet. It was all old school electronics, a definite hobby shop; much like the stationary shop they had been to earlier on. He couldn't tell much by the sign, but it seemed there were all sorts of older things, ranging from what looked like game consoles to even a typewriter, which was ancient by his standards.

Something about the store made Ryoken perk up, though he wasn't quite sure what about it was making him so interested. He'd never been one for older style electronics, much preferring the way things were now as opposed to what his online books told him the early 2000s were like. There were parts of that culture that he could respect - namely, the fact that everything wasn't so intrinsically tied to the internet - but certain things, like paper and pens and all that, still alluded him.

"Wanna go there next?" Miyu interrupted his reverie, and he looked back at her to see her pointing her thumb at the shop. "I don't mind. You've been going along with me and Takeru all day, so it's only fair you get to choose next."

He wasn't sure whether or not to feel embarrassed by her noticing, but he nodded anyways. "Why not," he said. "It certainly can't be worse than anywhere else we've been."

* * *

Homura grumbled a little as they entered the shop, but Ryoken paid him and Miyu no mind. He wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for, but he looked around aimlessly, hoping something or rather would catch his eye.

It took longer than he would've liked, with how his feet were still aching, but finally, he stopped in front of an old, blue camera. It was an extremely old model, one that still printed the photos out directly from the camera itself. It was being sold as a pack with two extra rolls of film, but the sign next to the display said the film was also sold there. Picking up the box with care, he read the description on the back, finding that it didn't require a black room like he'd seen in older books - the photos printed out, and in just a few minutes they were developed.

"Whatcha find?" Miyu asked, popping in behind him. Ryoken did his best to not let it show how much she had startled him. "A camera?"

"Mm," he nodded, eyes still focused on the back of the packaging. All things considered, it was at a fairly good price for a collector's item like this. It was rare to see shops that sold these kinds of goods, especially in Den City. A lot of places that did were solely online warehouses.

"Are you gonna buy it?" She continued her questioning, shifting her weight on her feet as she did.

Giving himself a moment, he thought about it. Thought about what Yusaku would look like holding such a thing, thought about what kind of pictures he might take and hang up in his fairly barren apartment. Yusaku had never shown an interest in older technology, necessarily, but Ryoken couldn't honestly give himself a reason that his boyfriend wouldn't at least be a little bit interested in it.

More importantly, though, he thought of the life Yusaku used to lead compared to now. He'd been to his apartment countless times, at this point, and there was nothing of what his life was like before the Lost Incident. He didn't live with family, had no friends to hang pictures of on his walls, and had no hobbies or interests to occupy shelf space.

Now, though, he was learning. He was growing. He was allowed to be a person and figure himself out, even if it was slow going - for the both of them, in all honesty.

He thought of Yusaku now, with friends, a family in Kusanagi and the other Lost Incidents victims, with _himself_ as support. He thought of Yusaku maybe wanting to preserve those memories, a little bit more substantially than just in his own head. Wanting to remind himself that he had come far in his recovery, or that people genuinely cared about him, for who he was: broken past and all.

"Yes," he decided on, nodding again firmly. "I think I'll have the service robot gift wrap it, too."

* * *

As soon as Ryoken opened his eyes that morning, he had a choice to make.

The nicely wrapped camera and extra film sat on his bedside table, almost as if to mock him. Since finding out about his birthday from Miyu, he had not mentioned it once to Yusaku, though they'd talked every day. In fact, they saw each other yesterday, agreeing to meet up later on that day at Cafe Nagi and maybe go out to dinner or something. He hadn't seemed put off or awkward about the date, so Ryoken was still unsure of whether to even mention that he'd found out about his boyfriend's birthday, yet.

He had bought the camera not quite on a whim, but the more he looked at it, the more unsure he became over his choice of gift. Yusaku had never expressed the desire to even _look _at photography before, so why would he be interested in taking pictures? With a sigh, Ryoken shook his head as he sat up from bed.

Looking at his phone, he realized it was still quite early; Spectre wouldn't have even started breakfast yet. "Must be nervous," he said to himself quietly, feeling quite stupid for that.

It was nowhere near time to wait for breakfast - Spectre wouldn't be up for another half an hour, at least - but he knew there was no way he was getting back to sleep at this point. There weren't many things to do at this time in the morning, not anymore, at least. In the past, he might've went into Link VRAINS, or continued his research or work into getting into SOL Tech, or something of the sort.

With that all behind him, now, usually he had no trouble sleeping. He was still a morning person, most definitely, but sleep found him a lot easier than it used to. The last time he had trouble was right before he and Yusaku officially started their relationship; his confusion and guilt eating him alive at the time.

The fact that he was waking up before six and feeling this nervous about a stupid birthday was ridiculous. Pushing himself off his bed and heading directly to his closet, he decided to head out to Stardust Road, even if just for a little while until Spectre was awake. There was no reason to keep himself cooped up in his room, staring at the stupid present he wasn't even sure if Yusaku would enjoy.

* * *

By the time he got to Cafe Nagi, present awkwardly underneath his arm, Yusaku was already there. It wasn't that surprising, as they were both pretty punctual people, but Ryoken had really been hoping to beat him there that day; still unsure as to whether to chuck the thing in the trash or give it to his boyfriend.

As soon as Yusaku spotted it, his lips tilted downwards slightly, and Ryoken began to regret his decision almost instantly. "Who told you?" He asked, not quite frowning at the blue packaging around the camera. "Did you already know, or did Kusanagi or Takeru tell?"

Blinking, Ryoken sat down across from him, feeling oddly vulnerable. It was rare, in their relationship, for _him _to be the one feeling out of place - despite the fact that neither of them had any experience in the matter. Even though it was both of their first, and likely only, if Ryoken had anything to say about it, relationship, he tended to have a bit of an upper hand. He, at least, was familiar with the concepts. Yusaku, largely, was not.

"It was neither," he finally responded, almost wary of giving it away. "Miyu mentioned it a few days ago." They were both silent for a moment, before Ryoken continued. "Did you not want me to know?"

Yusaku shrugged, looking away. "It's not that I specifically wanted to hide it from you," he said, shifting himself in his chair. "I honestly thought you might've already known. I just don't care about it, or really need anything."

It was understandable. Ryoken didn't particularly care about his own birthday, either, though that was partially due to his distaste of the winter. It just had never seemed like an important thing; it was just the date in which someone had come into the world. Nothing ground breaking or anything like that.

However, while shopping for a decent gift, he had started to think a little differently. When he watched as Homura tirelessly worked to find a good present for his friend, when he finally found the thing he thought might be worth giving to Yusaku…

Well, he hadn't completely changed his view - he still thought they were fairly unimportant, in the grand scheme of things. But Yusaku was someone that, after everything, deserved a day to celebrate and relax. After everything he'd been through, after the kind of life he'd had…

"I don't really care about birthdays much myself," Ryoken confessed, "but you're important to me. It's just a good day to remind you of that."

It was a bit corny - cornier than he would've normally liked being, out in public - but it was the truth. It wasn't the birthday itself that was important: it was Yusaku.

Flushing, Yusaku's mild frown turned into a scowl, but Ryoken could tell there was nothing behind it besides embarrassment. "Well, I guess I'll accept it, then," he said, nodding at the present. "Thank you, Ryoken."

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't even opened it yet." Pushing the wrapped gift towards him, his nervousness returned full force. Would Yusaku like it? Would he think it was stupid? Would Homura's gift, or Miyu's, whatever they were, be much superior?

"Doesn't matter," Yusaku mumbled as he methodically tore through the wrapping paper, careful not to rip it too badly. "It's from you."

That was enough to make Ryoken's face get warm, but he ignored it dutifully, instead watching his boyfriend's reaction with interest. Yusaku pulled the plastic casing out first, ignoring the smaller film rolls in favor of it. At first, it seemed he was a bit confused, but as he scanned over the packaging, a genuine smile lit up his face.

Though they had known each other in person for almost two years, now, and had been dating for eight months, it was still a rare occurrence to see such unabashed emotion from Yusaku. Most of his smiles were done between just the two of them, in extremely private places. Anything else was done in short, small bursts. He was still getting used to it, as was Ryoken in a lot of ways, being able to express himself freely - or even have the desire to _want _to do things like be happy.

Every time he managed to get Yusaku to smile like that, though, it was like the world around him stopped moving - stopped existing. It was like they suddenly would become the only two people in the world, and that no matter what Ryoken had done in the past, clearly he was still worth something if he could make someone look at him like _that_. Like he was important. Like he had done something right, for once in his life.

"I wasn't sure what to get you," Ryoken said after the world started moving around him again, shifting his eyes to the camera packaging in Yusaku's hands, "but when I saw that, I thought of you."

Yusaku was already working at the packaging before Ryoken had a chance to continue. "I want my first picture to be of you," he said, a small smile still tugging at his lips.

The words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to process them. "Why, though?"

Stopping in his plight to open the packaging, Yusaku blinked owlishly at him. "Because I love you, and you got this for me," he explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So let me take your picture."

He said it with such seriousness that Ryoken almost wanted to laugh. "Okay," he relented. "Fine. Go ahead." He was just glad, though, that his intuition had been correct. This really wasn't a conventional gift for Yusaku - the younger Zaizen's idea of a hoodie was much more in line with what most people had probably thought of, anyways - but it had paid off, which was all that really mattered. "I love you, as well," he continued, moving his hand to brush his thumb against Yusaku's wrist, as he continued to fight with the plastic. "Happy birthday, Yusaku."

* * *

**Notes**

The birthdays are all headcanons since Vrains refuses to give us canon info lol. I made Yusaku a Virgo (with a birthday two days before mine lol) partially because I felt like it, and partially because I genuinely think he fits as a Virgo. Ryoken's birthday I headcanon as December 31st, for a multitude of reasons, but one of which being that I like him as a winter baby who despises the winter lmao. He's also very much a Capricorn in my opinion. Anyways, thanks for reading!


End file.
